Victor Petit was an artist, lithographer and chromolithographer who documented the picturesque architecture and gardens built in and around Paris during the Second Empire. He was also a member of numerous archaelogical associations. Habitations Champêtres was one of four complementary works directed at the newly wealthy and culturally ambitious bourgeoisie of the time: the others were MAISONS DE COMPAGNE DES ENVIRONS DE PARIS, PARCS ET JARDINS DES ENVIRONS DE PARIS, AND PETITES CONSTRUCTIONS PITTORESQUES. In the present work the focus is on the variety of country house styles found in different regions of France and, to a small extent, in England and Italy. The parks, grounds arrangements, garden structures and outbuildings are also depicted. Belvederes, garden pavilions, rustic cabanas and the like are shown along with views of parks such as the Parc de Pinon in Picardie or the Parc du Marchais in Burgundy. Distinctions are made among maisons champêtres, maisons de plaisance, and maisons bourgeoises; all are shown in grounds settings. The work was available from the publishers in simple black and white lithography or in coloured lithography; individual plates could also be ordered separately, either coloured or in black and white. The present copy offers 30 plates in black and white and the remaining 70 hand finished to varying degrees in light color. They offer an interesting contrast to the forceful colors available as shown in sample plates from Petites Constructions and Parcs Et Jardins Des Environs De Paris which are laid in here. Ganay 254, but the Ganay copy does not have the title page.

A delightfully illustrated catalogue of pears available from Van Houtte, a prominent Belgian nurseryman. Van Houtte was also noted as a printer and a publisher. He built a printing plant at his nursery in the 1840s and also published the FLORE DES SERRES ET DES JARDINS DE L'EUROPE from 1845 to 1880. Van Houtte used his presses to produce the fine chromolithographed plates which illustrate this catalogue of the pears available from his firm. 431 varieties are listed and described, 122 of which are illustrated in 16 oblong color plates. An additional 36 varieties are shown in outline on 6 black and white plates. Although the original cover title for this copy suggests this is the first fascicule in a larger work, “POMONE/ 1/ NOS POIRES./ 1.er Fascicule.”, we find no evidence of such a work being continued. Rather, this collection of illustrations and descriptions became something of a trade catalogue for the firm as much as an informed catalogue of currently superior pears. Some years ago we sold a copy without this printed cover title and with text beginning on page 5, without the preliminary title page and 2 page introduction present in this copy. The work is very scarce: we locate only 2 copies in OCLC, both in Switzerland ( University of Bern and the Conservatorie Et Jardin Botanique Ville de Genève), of which the Bern copy is dated 1890. With 16 Large Chromolithographed Plates Of Pears

Maund was a pharmacist, botanist and bookseller who was most noted as the publisher of several botanical periodicals with colored plates, the most famous of which, THE BOTANIC GARDEN, began in 1825. The FRUITIST appeared as a sequel to that series, although the format of its illustrations differed from the earlier flower plates by presenting a single subject per page instead of four. These delicately hand-colored wood engravings depict a variety of fruits placed above their printed descriptions and framed within an elaborate printed border. Included are 34 apples, 24 pears, 6 plums, 3 gooseberries and 7 other fruits. In the present volume the fruits have been grouped by type, with varieties placed in alphabetical order, rather than in the random order in which they were originally received by subscribers.

A rare suite of eight aquatint views of the gardens of the Tuileries by Swiss artist, Johann Heinrich Troll created at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The scenes in the park with their elegant women in Empire dress and the focus classical style statuary and ornament underscores the interest of Napoleon’s Parisian society in an adopted imperial Roman flair. The plates are as follows: Vue du Grand Bassin prise derrière la Statue de L'Automne; Bosquet des Lutteurs ; Méléagre, Allée des Orangers; Bosquet du Centaure Chiron; Palais des Tuileries a l'Entrée de l'Allée des Orangers; Apollon et Daphné; Vue prise près du grand Bassin; Escalier du Milieu de la Terrasse du cote de la Rivière. In addition to structures, large, elongated trees, and garden ornaments, including sculpture, there are people, including children, carefully posed and, just occasionally, little animals, enlivening each scene. Two copies in CCFR are described as "8 estampes aquatint" and the BNF notes that the publication date is arrived at from the dates when the illustrated statues were known to have been present in the gardens. Rare as a complete set; OCLC records only one copy in the US (Dumbarton Oaks). With the bookplates of collector Serge Le Tellier and of Félicie Meunié d’Hostel.